Swipe cards

tripez81

Just wondering if there's any plan to make swipe cards available?

davidevans0000

tripez81 dont think so and if they were available dont think i would bother with one. and welcome to giffgaff.

persco

tripez81 Just wondering if there's any plan to make swipe cards available?

Not at the moment @tripez81 as there are so many other methods of payment like PayPal, credit cards, debit cards and vouchers. A swipe card would be another plastic to bulk up a wallet and expensive to produce when there are other methods of payment readily available.

There are a few ideas for a swipe card in the labs here https://labs.giffgaff.com/browse?sc=Swipe but giffgaff for now doesn’t seem interested but who knows maybe in future but I doubt it will do anything other methods don’t accomplish at the moment.

endorphin

tripez81 if you mean topup cards then giffgaff have managed without so far! They cost a bit of money to hand out and I'd imagine giffgaff have to pay a charge each time they're used.

Instead you can buy and redeem giffgaff and O2 vouchers which are available from most newsagents and supermarkets.

various_mm

tripez81 Just wondering if there's any plan to make swipe cards available?

not sure what purpose they will serve?

you have so many ways of adding credit to your account

you can even link a credit/ debit card to your account and have money taken from your account automatically without you doing anything

to be honest the cost or producing thee, plus the wider environmental concerns just make plastic swipe cards unsustainable.

richybhoy36

tripez81 Hi there and welcome to giffgaff ! I doubt it as I have never heard it mentioned before on the forums ! Sorry .

davidvarley

tripez81
I can see swipe cards to top up mobiles would be a good thing for elderly who don't like vouchers as they are complicated for elderly having to type in 16 digit numbers with vouchers and often small writing so if have slight blindness can be very hard to do a swipe card would be more easy as they just have to hand cards in and ask for amount to be topped up and put on your mobile for you with no messing around typing codes.

tripez81

persco thanks for the feedback, it was mainly for my friend who is totally blind and he wants to put alot of money on at a time and he doesn't want to use PayPal or bank card as he doesn't like to use them. I think it would help the blind community

karenyates

Seems unnecessary,so I cant see giffgaff bothering with it.😏

jt_21

tripez81 it was mainly for my friend who is totally blind and he wants to put alot of money on at a time and he doesn't want to use PayPal or bank card as he doesn't like to use them. I think it would help the blind community

That's absolutely fine if your friend does not wish to use bank details or PayPal, but It's only paper vouchers I'm afraid (it's best to buy O2 vouchers as they come in a more variety of denominations than the giffgaff ones) there are two types of top up with giffgaff, so if your friend bought the paper voucher and added it by calling 43430 or 4444 there's the option to just add the voucher as 'money' or to use it as full payment for a goodybag, I am sure the shops/supermarket cashiers would be able to help your friend to add the voucher to your friend's phone by tapping in the 16 digit voucher number see
https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Solve-your-questions/Where-can-I-buy-giffgaff-top-up-vouchers/ta-p/3517485 And the 43430 top up service here
https://giffgaff.com/help/articles/add-credit-over-the-phone

various_mm

tripez81 thanks for the feedback, it was mainly for my friend who is totally blind and he wants to put alot of money on at a time and he doesn't want to use PayPal or bank card as he doesn't like to use them. I think it would help the blind communit

using a swipe card will be same as using the debit card. plus debit cards are contactless so all your friend would need to do is hold the card near the terminal. its actually easier than swipe card as there will be no need to hand over the swipe card, to be swiped.

various_mm

davidvarley I can see swipe cards to top up mobiles would be a good thing for elderly who don't like vouchers as they are complicated for elderly having to type in 16 digit numbers with vouchers and often small writing so if have slight blindness can be very hard to do a swipe card would be more easy as they just have to hand cards in and ask for amount to be topped up and put on your mobile for you with no messing around typing codes.

if they already have credit or debit card then there is no need as the cards are contactless

davek89

Are you talking about the sort of swipe cards that people used to use for topping up pay as you go phones? They seem to have rather gone out of fashion, and I don't think giffgaff are likely to bring them back as there simply isn't enough money to be made from doing so. I think O2 or EE might still have them, although that's probably a legacy thing that might get discontinued if it hasn't already.

harrrrrry

A swipe card would presumably need to be backed up by a funding source of some sort, such as being linked to a bank account or paypal.

More useful would be to enable 43430 so that it can work with card or paypal payments already registered as a funding source -- thus giving the ability to buy credit and goodybags from the phone, without requiring a special card and the associated hassle (and expense for giffgaff) of setting it up.